Hopi
katsina dolls are wooden effigies of the
katsinam (plural), or benevolent spirit beings, who
visit the Hopi for about half of every year. Traditionally
carved from cottonwood root by Hopi men, they are tangible
evidence of the katsinam's power and wisdom.

According
to Hopi tradition, the katsinam once visited in person, but
now come as clouds down from the mountains or up from the
earth. They begin arriving in late December, at the winter
solstice. Masked and costumed Hopi men assume their powers
and prestige in ceremonies and dances held until the
katsinam depart in July. Though only men can be katsinam,
women and children play important roles as their audience;
all Hopi men and women belong to the Katsina
Society.

The
Hopi recognize several hundred katsinam. Some originated at
other pueblos. Many came from Zuni without their original
legends and other religious connotations, and have since
come to look much more like Hopi katsinam.

Hopi
katsinam can be male or female, and represent plants,
animals, insects, human qualities, the creative force of the
sun, and even death. Some are demons who frighten children
into behaving properly; most are clan ancestors and
beneficent beings. They are messengers who accept Hopi gifts
and prayers for health, fertility, and rain and carry them
back to the gods. Their role as rainmakers is particularly
important to the Hopi, whose agriculture in the high, arid
desert of northeastern Arizona has always been
precarious.

Three
main ceremonies are performed by and for the katsinam during
their stay in the villages: Soyalangwu, a winter
solstice ceremony in December; Powamuya in February,
when the katsinam are asked to appear; and Niman, the
home-going ceremony, after the summer solstice. Between
Powamuya and Niman, they perform several dances that help
bring rain, promote the growth of crops, and increase the
number of animals the Hopi depend on for survival. Early in
the year they are held in underground ceremonial chambers
called kivas. As spring arrives, the dances move out onto
the plazas, where they last from morning until dusk. At the
end of Niman, the katsinam return to the spirit
world.

During
the dances and ceremonies, katsina dolls, or tithu
(singular: tihu), are given by the katsinam to
infants of both sexes, young girls, and women. Most are
given out during Powamuya and Niman. Girls at or near
marriageable age receive most of them, although married
women sometimes get them from their husbands. A woman who
receives a tihu treats it with great respect, hanging it
from a beam or wall in her house where it won't come to harm
and can continue to benefit her and her family.

Whereas
traditionally Hopi katsina dolls were carved by the katsinam
in the kivas and were used entirely within Hopi culture,
since the late 1800s many dolls have been carved as art
objects and sold to the general public. Market demand has
increased Hopi production of the dolls while adding new
technical skills and styles to the Hopi carvers'
repertoires.

Katsina
dolls are most easily identified by their colors, the types
and arrangements of feathers they wear, and the tools,
weapons, and other accessories they hold or carry on their
backs, all of which are symbols laden with religious
meaning.